Five Overrated TV Shows Summarized by One Line
I’m extremely critical when it comes to television. It takes a whole lot to keep me watching a show. Actually sometimes it takes very little but that’s in cases like The Jersey Shore where it’s so bad that it’s great. But for a show that is scripted and intended to impress us with characters and plot it’s not easy to captivate an audience.
And I gotta tell you. I’m totally miffed at how some shows become successful. Don’t even get me started on Two and a Half Men. I’ll just get really really angry.
Over the years and even currently some shows just bother me and honestly I think they’re nothing more than one line and one description…..
Friends – “We all make no money and live in huge apartments.”
For all the success and acclaim this show had I never really thought it was all that good. I felt most of the show was “overdone” in a way. Ross was one of the most annoying and loserish characters in the history of TV. Joey was the only redeemable character. Phoebe? Gross. Monica? Who cares. Rachel? I guess she’s hot but very annoying. Chandler used to be funny before he got whipped by Monica. And come on kids. Those apts would be at least 3-4 grand a month.
Will and Grace – “Accept flamboyant homosexuals on network television”
I just think they overdid the homosexual thing. If anything I think the show represented the gay community very very poorly. It’s not like all gay people live by the stereotypes the show pushed on viewers. The overabundance of it all must have pissed of viewers that are in fact homosexual and aren’t nearly as stereotypical as the show portrayed. Personally I found the show to be extremely annoying and obnoxious.
How I Met Your Mother – “We’re nothing without Barney”
Imagine this show without Neil Patrick Harris. And then once his character gets to annoy you? Case closed.
Everybody Loves Raymond – “Holy Crap”
The show isn’t funny! OK, families are stressful. I get that. But I mean come on. Your signature lines are stuff like “Holy Crap?” Really? Families fight, I get it. The only decent character on that show was Robert. Oh, and whenever Chris Elliot came on the show it was decent.
Glee – “Stealing Popular Music to get TV Ratings”
I just don’t get Glee. I never will. And I’m fully convinced people love the show because they have so much popular music sung by “normal” people. I don’t know man. I just don’t know.
I can understand what people say about Glee. But saying Glee is just a musical is like saying Lost is about people stranded on an island. I actually fast forward a lot of songs because the drama is more interesting than the music at times. I can understand the viewpoint. A lot of people see it as a corny musical. But I Can honestly say I watch it, like it and suggest people give it a chance.
Look at the Episode “Laryngitis”.
One more thing. Yes they use auto tune. But you can only sing so many songs. Its hard to find someone who can sing all styles at all ranges. much less an entire cast of people who could. Again the music really isn’t the focus to the story, its the characters and their developments.
Your article is dead on! Absolutely dead on!
agreed on all accounts except everybody loves Raymond. i don’t know, it just reminds me so much of my dysfunctional family. my mom is like Marie + Deb + Lois from malcolm in the middle.
Two and a haf men has to only be successful because its that show you watch in between shows.
Like I dont want to get to involved into an hour long episode of something before…. Gossip girl? comes on.
@zero: I feel incredibly bad for you if that is what your mom is like.
I also have to disagree with the Raymond bit. That was one of the most realistic sitcoms ever made. And it had freaking Peter Boyle which automatically makes it awesome. Either way, saying “Holy crap!” might not be normally funny (sans when Peter Boyle says it, automatically making it funny), but it is when delivered correctly and at the right time. Raymond is also gave us the most underrated sitcom of all time (King of Queens) so, really, I say we all bow down to that show and mourn the loss of Boyle (yes, four years later we should still be mourning his passing)
Glee was the first show in 19 years to reference the invasion of Panama, and that’s good enough for me.
@Hank
Actually, Weeds mentioned the invasion of Panama some seasons ago. Nancy was trying to get Silas out of his room with a lot of awful music, saying it was “her Invasion of Panama”.
Funny story about will and grace being too flamboyant. John Barrowman, captain jack harkness on torchwood and doctor who, and real life homosexual, auditioned for the role of will on will and grace but was deemed not “gay enough”. Instead they chose to go with eric mccormack, a straight man.
Can’t agree with you on Friends bro. The was my shiznit. Chandler is funny. PERIOD.
Didn’t even really bother me that there weren’t any black characters.
Have to fully agree with this list…..although I haven’t seen “Glee”, but still I don’t want to.
Everybody love Raymond = same episode over and over again.
I actually reckon that the first season or two of Friends was genuinely good television. It was funny, and unique at the time.
Unlike the seasons that followed, which pretty much became the group yelling their character traits at each other.
lol i actually watched a couple glee episodes for the music, but had to give it up because the rest of the show sucked hairy monkey balls
Agree with pretty much everything. Was really surprised too, because I thought I was the only one who was annoyed by the sitcoms.
Will and Grace is the scurge of all non-flamboyant gays, every single girl I become friends with always asks me to be their Will. #$@%$
I HATE ‘Friends’ and ‘How I Met Your Mother.’ I’m so glad someone feels the same way. All my friends treat ‘Friends’ (whoa, man . . . see what I did there?) like the bee’s knees when EVERYONE knows it’s only the cat’s pajamas–at best. I’d also like to submit ‘The Big Bang Theory,’ which for no other reason than spite, was moved to Thursdays to fart in ‘Community”s face.
I got to disagree with Glee, I don’t watch it for the musical numbers, sometimes I do, I mean, imagine how many ears for the first timed listened to Bohemian Rhapsody or the upcoming Rocky Horror soundtrack, I watch Glee for it’s writing and dialogue which is sardonic, funny, and better than most TV nowadays
I’m not a huge follower of Glee either, but watch it when it’s on and other people in the house are watching, and you’re wrong about one thing, more then half the time it’s not even popular music. It’s often odd show tunes and obscure music from the 70s.
I guess the reason everyone loves it so much is because it’s different? Right place, right time, I guess (unlike “Cop Rock”, sadly).
I think Peep Show summarises ‘Friends’ pretty well when Jeremy says “They were such good friends they got bored of being friends and started screwing each other”.
Great descriptions. So true. I think HIMYM is pretty much the only one I watch, and really it is for Doogie, errrrrr I mean Barney. lol.
“Everybody love Raymond = same episode over and over again.”
And annoying on many levels. Boyle was the ONLY interesting character. Everyone else whined and complained all the time and appeared very needy for the the settings the show was cast in.
Friends just seemed like fantasy. Who acts like that? All the time? The apartments were ginormus too. That size next to Central Park? Were they hedgefund managers?
You lost all creditability when you said you were captivated with Jersey Shore. It’s like “Oh jersey shore is such a crappy show, but it’s so bad and corny, but I watch weekly not because i like it, but because I want to see the stupid remarks Snooki and the other cast members say and do to each other”. You’re just in denial to liking bad television yourself.
You give no compelling objective reasons and arguments to back up your points. Every comment come from your own personal point of view, and it is very weak. It is sad that nowadays, most those so call “bloggers” are uneducated and shallow. And you guys ask for the title journalist? From now on Nattyb, I’ll ignore every article comes under your name, because I know it is just going to be as ignorant and immature as this one.
How is The Big Bang Theory not on this list?
Great call, it should be.
nothing gets close to seinfeld..a show about nothing..
I agree, a pretty good list. I almost stopped reading after you admitted to watching Jersey Shore. There’s not enough bad to make that show watchable.
Good points on Will and Grace. The “shove the gay agenda down your throat” was way over the top (see what I did there?). Unfortunately, the flamboyance of Jack and Karen were the only funny parts. The segments with Will and Grace were just endless droning whinebaggery. Not funny. The show should have been called Jack and Karen.
BTW, Chris Elliot is the single most unfunny person in the history of television, film, or any other medium. Just plain not funny. Never has been.
I love How I Met Your Mother and I’ve had this discussion with friends who watch it and we agree… we just watch it for Barney.
Friends is the greatest sitcom ever to air and How i met your mother is close to that number in the charts!!!and will always be!!! PERIOD!!!!
Here’s the formula for really bad scripted comedy. Character A delivers straight line, character B delivers “funny” comeback. If the lines could be delivered by any of the characters, that is, the characters are just used to deliver lines, you wind up with 2 dimensional, cardboard cut out characters, rather than genuine human beings, and the whole production seems more like a cartoon than an insightful glimpse into human nature.
Friends – agree. Totally pathetic, cardboard, 2D characters. Just painful to watch – only propped up by the occasional T&A.
Will & Grace – same as above, only with gays.
How I Met Your Mother – who cares about these people?
Glee – have to admit I’ve only seen one episode. Not sure.
Everybody Loves Raymond – couldn’t disagree more. The conflict in the family and the relationships were so real that I sometimes felt I was eavesdropping on real people. Best fights ever on television. The conflict (which is by the way, the heart and soul of comedy and drama) has never been handled better. IMHO ELR is one of the best written, best acted comedies of all time. Special recognition to Patty Heaton who was simply brilliant.
While I agree that Barney totally makes HIMYM, there is some downright clever writing on that show sometimes. For anyone who saw “The Playbook” episode will know what I’m talking about.
@nobody & nattyb
Have you guys actually seen the big bang theory? I only ask because i get the impression that most people that “hate” it haven’t actually watched an entire episode. I’m not sure why they won’t give it a chance be that the laugh track, chuck lorre, whatever. It is easily the funniest show on right now and the characters aren’t just 2 dimensional losers, they are well developed well rounded characters you actually care about.
I dare anyone to watch the episode “the excelsior acquisition”, guest starring stan lee, and say it’s not a funny show.
Did u know that Glee has officially become bigger than Beatles at least according to the billboards. The Beatles had 71 hits in the top 100 while Glee gets 6 a show basically it wont be long til they dethrone James Brown and Elvis….so sad
This quote, so flawlessly slipped into conversation that you didn’t even notice it, is one reason Glee is remotely watchable:
—-
Sue: That’s what they said about a young man in Chicago in 1871, who thought he’d play a harmless prank on the dairy cow of one Mrs. O’Leary. He successfully ignited its flatulence, and a city burned, William. That young terrorist went on to become the first gay president of the United States, Abraham Lincoln.
—-
I laughed so hard at that line. It was great.
And the Joss Whedon/NPH episode. That one was great.
I never even WATCHED the fucking show and I know that Friends covered their asses about the apartments. Apparently no one at the silly blog know as unrealitymag knows about rent control apartments
You’re an idiot.
I believe I speak for everyone when I say…Two and a half men…or are we not stating the obvious?
I’ve always thought that Barney and Joey were the least funny characters on their shows. They’re the “I’m saying a joke” characters whereas their cast mates are more about character idiosyncrasies.
And I’ve been fighting a losing battle when it comes to getting my friend to like friends and I get it, it is nerdy. But I truly think that Monica and Ross’ dynamic is one of the consistently funny brother/sister combos ever.
Ok i think that this is just your opinion !Every one of my friends loves at least one of these shows!And my whole family (my cousins,my brothers,my mum,my dad,my aunt,my uncle and my cousins girlfriends)love how i met your mother!All my mates love friends.And glee my whole school loves glee!I guess you just have a rwally bad sense of whats good and whats not!
i like EHR i just like it; Glee well.. i admit it i liked how it started a bit it was doing well but then it turned into a stupid show about the “silly teen’s Stuff” like being popular or givin any shiet about Footbal Team
I agree with most of the titles. But How I Met Your Mother is the best series ever. Barney is a powerful but small part of it. The cast is amazing, writing and directing even more so.
And, to finally fall into the childish behavior that everyone loves: in that list… try removing HIMYM and put Community instead. That’s the most overrated series I’ve ever seen (and heard people talk about). It’s not bad, just highly overrated, and HIMYM is on another universe =P
be quiet, moron ; )
To be overrated, don’t you need some perceived credibility to begin with? Nobody with a straight face can say that Glee does anything but pander to key demographics. How I met your mother suffers mostly from the main character: Josh Radnor’s ‘Ted Mosby’ and his insufferable, cliche-ridden dialogue and mannerisms. As if the writers were told to simply copy Zach Braff to a Tee. Everybody Loves Raymond was a comfortable pair of slippers for the over 45 crowd. Will and Grace could have been a radio show, since there was no real character development – only a sufficient amount of snarky dialogue to fit between commercials. Jerry Seinfeld admitted that the Kenny Bania character was “Friends”. A soap opera for 20 somethings.